Review: Starstruck – Years and Years
- by Nicholas Gaudet
- in Reviews
Years and Years delivers one of the grooviest, most harmonically intricate post-disco song of the year with his newest single Starstruck, all while honoring the legends that paved the way for the genre, and sounding as modern as can be.
I’ve always found that disco songs have a knack for incredible jazz harmony. Sometimes, it’s incredibly in your face about it, such as After the Love is Gone, but what’s just as impressive is when it’s done subtly, yet having just as much as an impact. That is very much the case for Years and Years, otherwise known as Olly Alexander, with his newest single Starstruck. The chord progression might seem quite normal, but musicians won’t even have to study it to know how genius the chords link to one another, and especially how Olly traverses those chords through melody. Especially in the bridge, he really finds ways to tug at the tension brought on by these chords, which releases at the exciting chorus that follows it. The verse, as well as the aforementioned chorus, are extremely retro in tone and nature, with cool, cheesy synths and instrumentation that most likely came from a Yamaha DX7, all toppled with bass lines so sweet it’ll make a cake seem bitter. The bridge is where I find Olly really breaks out of the gimmick, which works wonderfully for the song, but having that classic modern EDM structure and sound gives it a far more unique theme. Like mentioned before, the harmony is especially interesting, but not just with the chord progression. As the song ends, there’s an almost choir-like a Capella section all sung by Olly that is filled with complex tones and extensions to the already complex chords it plays over. It’s an extremely daunting and daring challenge to pull off, but Olly does it ever so effortlessly, which is why the song feels so subtly complex; he just makes it all sound so natural and easy.
Dance tracks are always fun: it’s rare for someone to frown as groovy bass lines punched by four-on-the-floor rhythms blast over the speakers. With that being said, it’s always a nice surprise when an artist like Years and Years manages to make that sound even more exciting by applying various unique elements, such as jazz harmony. It’s a rare treat that we must savor at all cost.
